Baby with trapped wind etc after breastfeeding?

[fernie3]

my three week old has been very prone to trapped wind since she was born but the last few days its just been getting worse. She grunts and screams and wriggles, mostly in the night.

Last night was awful, she cried from midnight until around 5am with only brief 15-20 minute naps. She was feeding but not really putting any effort into it (only short sucks and kept pulling away). After 5 hours I was ready to cry and my husband took her and gave her a bottle. She didnt refuse it had about 50 ml and fell asleep, she is still asleep.

It cant be that she is used to the bottle because she has only ever had two , one in the first couple of days and one last night.

Is there something I can do to stop her getting so miserable after breastfeeding her?
If she took the bottle does that mean she was hungry all along or just that it settled her wind?!

She is covered in spots on her face and my MIL insists its from breastmilk so now I am half convinced she is allergic to my milk!

I dont want to go on to bottles as I am quite enjoying the breastfeeding now but at the same time I dont want her uncomfortable or miserable.

Hi Fernie3, congrats on your DD and also on bfing.

What sort of spots are they? Hard, white 'milk' spots (blocked pores which all babies get) or something else? If something else, you should get her checked out by the GP, just in case she is poorly. (I'm assuming she doesn't have a temperature - if so, you need to see a doctor asap.)

Generally bf babies are less windy than bottlefed babies, assuming their latch is right so I'm not sure moving to bottles would help. My DS was really windy and we found using Infacol before each feed really helped. Your DD is so young though that I would check first with your GP or HV that it is OK to use it so young. You could also get a bfing counsellor to check your latch, just in case that is causing wind.

Occasionally some babies are intolerant to a food that their mum is eating (eg dairy). But, that usually causes more than just wind, eg green loose stools. Again, get it checked with your GP though, just in case.

BTW, have never heard your MIL's theory that the spots are caused by breastmilk!

Spots on the face are completely normal in babies so I would ignore your MIL for a start

Have you thought about taking her to an osteopath. DD used to have terrible gut wind and apparently their spines can get twisted in labour which can irritate certain nerves, or something like that anyway. Also maybe try something like Infacol or Dentinox for wind. Failing that, we were recommended a dummy, as sucking is meant to be soothing.

Breastfeeding can be an up and down process especially in the early stages. Do you have a local breastfeeding group you can go to? It may be that feeding positions are giving her wind.

Good luck, don't give up if you don't want to, there are ways to tackle this.

We have the same problem with our DD (now 6 weeks) who gets very windy and unsettled unless we really stay on top of managing her wind. Whoever said breastfed babies don't suffer with wind was telling fibs :)

Have you tried giving her infacol with every feed? We've found that really helps to bring the burps and farts out.

Also how are you winding her and for how long? It sometimes takes up to 30 mins to get all the wind out of our DD. Have you tried sitting her upright on your knee with your hand applying gentle pressure to her tummy then gently rocking her forward and backwards over your hand? We find that always brings wind up. The tiger in the tree hold also works like magic when nothing else will sooth her (see top pic on this page tigerinthetree.blogspot.com/2008/06/tiger-in-tree-reboot.html)

If the wind is trapped lower down we've found that bicycling her legs then pulling her legs into her tummy helps to release farts. Also see the baby massage techniques on this page which we've found really helps too wn.com/Baby_Farts__The_Manual_Release_Method

Finally if all else fails we use gripe water to release any really trapped wind but you have to wait until shes a month old to try this.

I don't think the problem is likely to be with your breastmilk although it would be a good idea to get your latch technique checked to make sure baby is not swallowing air when feeding.

Finally my baby also has lots of spots on her face. I asked the health visitor about these and she said they are caused by baby's skin reacting to the change of environment now they are outside the womb. They won't be caused by your breast milk and will pass in time when baby gets used to their new environment.

fernie3, that sounds really draining - baby colic crying is awful isn't it, esp when you feel you can't do anything to make it comfier for them -

My BF baby is also pretty windy (so yes, ayjayjay, the BF-ing baby who magically doesn't get wind hasn't arrived in this house either! Mine farts like a carthorse).

Colief has helped quite a bit - he still gets windy after feeds sometimes, and it seems quite painful, but doesn't go on for nearly as long - certainly not for hours. Or one hour, even. Windy pains seem to go as quickly as they come, too.

Re: spots - baby acne is totally normal, but pretty alarming if you don't know about it. Which I only did when my friend's DD broke out like a pustular teenager. My DS was pretty spotty from 2-3 weeks. It came and it went and he's fine. I don't think BF-ing/FF-ing makes the slightest bit of difference, so I wouldn't worry about that.

fernie - the old term for little white pearly spots on a babies face is 'milk spots' so maybe this is where your MIL gets her idea from :) If the spots are red, this is so-called baby acne. In both cases there is nothing wrong, it's not an allergy, it's all normal and it goes away.

Unexplained crying in a young baby is often put down to 'wind' - I don't know why, as we cannot peer into a baby's tum and see what's happening.

The burps and farts that sometimes appear could be air that's got in because of all the crying.

If your baby cries less when she is held skin to skin and not put down to sleep elsewhere after a feed, then it could be she just gets upset because of separation. What do you think?

well not long after writing this she started being sick and most of the bottle came back up, a repeat of what happened with the first attempt at feeding her formula, so now thinking that was a bad idea to start with.

the spots are red pimples, i googled baby acne and that is exactly what it is so I am relieved about that!

tiktok, we are having her in bed with us now which is helping. I am just going to try and take tonight as it comes hopefully she will settle a little more because the formula put her to sleep for a couple of hours but followed by a major sick episode and another few hours of comforting!.

oh we have a sling now as well which she likes although obviously i cant sleep wearing that (wish i could!)